So, I have a Garmin Vivoactive gps watch which I use for tracking running and biking. Aside from sports functions, it's waterproof, I get about 2 weeks from a charge and fits my wrist perfectly. More importantly, it does the only two things I need from a smartwatch:
1) It allows me to put my phone on silent and vibrates and displays any notifications coming in. A silent phone is a golden phone, and I don't have to pull out my phone in a meeting if a text or call comes in. A quick glance at the wrist is all I need.
2) It lets me select which notifications I receive on my watch as I don't need notifications every time @whomever posts a picture on twitter or I get an email in my gmail box. I get only those notifications I want in a timely manner.
Other than that, I can't think of anything for which I'd use a smart watch (though my desires do not necessarily line up with someone else's), so I certainly have no need to buy a new one each and every year.

You know Loco Roco is what got me to buy my PSP. Great game. The rest of the PSP library... well, I bought Patapon new, but everything else has to hit the $9.99 mark before it's worth the buy... Just, as you say, no compelling titles.

I'm glad to see this...I was beginning to think I was the only one. I *loved* the original Hellboy, but very nearly walked out on this one. Bad pacing and everything, and I do mean everything, felt telegraphed. Maybe if they had tried developing a character or something...oh wait...Abe drank a beer...

mcpublic writes: "The team of 'digital archeologists' who developed the technology behind the Intel Museum's 4004 microprocessor exhibit have done it again. 36 years after Intel introduced their first microprocessor on November 15, 1971, these computer historians have turned the spotlight on the first application software ever written for a general-purpose microprocessor: the Busicom 141-PF calculator. At the team's web site you can download and play with an authentic calculator simulator that sports a cool animated flowchart. Want to find out how Busicom's Masatoshi Shima compressed an entire four-function, printing calculator into only 1,024 bytes of ROM? Check out the newly recreated assembly language "source code," extensively analyzed, documented, and commented by the team's newest member: Hungary's Lajos Kintli. 'He is an amazing reverse-engineer,' recounts team leader Tim McNerney, 'We understood the disassembled calculator code well enough to simulate it, but Lajos really turned it into "source code" of the highest standards.'"

Peter Hanami writes: "Japanese high tech toilet makers are now aiming for the USA. The washlet may be soon become a household word in the USA. Japanese high tech toilets are a luxury item that once tried are hard to resist. A heated seat, a bidet, air freshner and some models even dry, meaning the user doesn't need to use toilet paper. A must have item in Asia, will Japanese high tech toilets find a place in the USA market?"

We always knew that the eventual robotic rebellion would come in stages (and would start with Roombas), so while many may take a childish satisfaction in seeing an innocent Roomba hacked up to shoot AirsoftBB pellets, we're constantly aware that this is another step towards the ultimate annihilation of all meat-based life forms. "Cool Bots!" MAKE cries, oblivious to the destructive potential pent up inside the little hoover's circuitry -- it's thinking: "I don't even need to try, they're giving me weapons!" Fortunately, this is very much an early stage killer robot, as the photos over on isobot's flickr stream attest. The modified Roomba may look menacing with its red laser sight, but it appears as if the little thing can't aim its plastic payload any higher than a few inches off the ground, limiting its targets to feet and unsuspecting house cats. Of course, that red laser also gives it more than a passing similarity to a certain infamous robot / human hybrid. Today, Airsoft; tomorrow, assimilation?

An anonymous reader writes: Following a horrible quarter and market share losses, AMD is within two quarters of running out of cash, according to EETimes. "AMD lost approximately $883 million in free cash flow in the last quarter, worse than expected, and putting the company within two quarters of running out of cash," EETimes quotes Wall Street analyst Chris Caso as saying. It gets even worse for AMD. After losing significant market share in 2006, Intel struck back in the first quarter of 2007, gaining 4.5 percentage points in the microprocessor market. Intel now holds 80.2 percent of the global chip market. Can AMD dig itself out of a hole? Maybe, maybe not. "AMD will look to lessen the capital needs of its models by outsourcing production and partnering up, though we believe this could take much longer than investors anticipate," analyst Doug Freedman of American Technology Research told EETimes.

Fresh off of getting a beating from a TV talk show host, Jack Thompson has reached a settlement with his favorite target, Take-Two Interactive, publishers of the Grand Theft Auto games. You might remember Thompson's suit in question here, which was pretty ridiculous, even for him. In response to a Take-Two suit trying to stop Thompson's repeated (and repeatedly unsuccessful) attempts to block the release of their new games, Thompson alleged the company was at the head of a vast conspiracy to somehow deprive him of his civil rights. For added amusement, he alleged that a number of video-game news sites were in on things, and alleged some racketeering violations, though he soon quietly dropped them. Thompson and Take-Two were due in court Thursday morning, where Thompson could have been tossed in jail for contempt of court, but the settlement precluded that. It's hard to see this as anything other than a win for Take-Two: Thompson has agreed to stop trying to block the sale of Take-Two's games, and will stop telling people that the company is breaking the law by selling games. However, he won't be prevented from representing third parties in their suits against the company, nor will he stop criticizing them and their games. But between this case and his potential disbarment, Thompson's doing a pretty good job of marginalizing himself.

"School shooting expert" Jack Thompson appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews today to ramble incoherently further about the gossamer-thin connection between Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui's actions and the Half-Life mod Counter-Strike. According to Jack — and no one else — Seung-Hui might have played Counter-Strike in high school at some point making him a calm and efficient killer. While Jack defends that connection in the most what-the-fuck way possible, Matthews takes him to task for his massive leaps in "logic."